


Unknown Things

by Vicky19



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Arrow (TV 2012) Season 2, Aunts & Uncles, BAMF Felicity Smoak, Best Friends, Cousins, Deaths, Family, Family deaths, Felicity being Greek, Felicity has a secret past, Friendship, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Greek - Freeform, Grieving, Lian Yu Island (Arrow TV 2012), Multi, Natural Disasters, OCs - Freeform, PTSD, Post-Episode: s01e21 The Undertaking, Road Trips, Secret Past, Secrets, Strained Friendships, Wildfire (Natural disaster), friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20208811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vicky19/pseuds/Vicky19
Summary: Everyone is entitled to their secrets.Everyone goes through traumatic shit in their lives.Everyone deals with death, some more some less.Everyone deals with PTSD.Everyone's lives are complicated at different points.But not everyone realizes that this is normal, some people think that they are alone in their suffering.Got curious? Read the story! Enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! How are you? I hope you are well.
> 
> I wrote this story as a form of realizing some things that going on in my life at the moment.
> 
> Just beware, this story contains many deaths, natural disasters, friendships being stained and PTSD. Read it at your own risk!
> 
> Enjoy!

Felicity hadn’t shared everything from her past.

Yes, she had told them that she was raised in Las Vegas but she hadn’t told them that her mum’s family and her were Greek. 

Felicity spent her most of her summers touring Greece with her parents visiting friends and family all over it until she was five years old and her dad was arrested.  
She loved that part of her summer. 

At the age of ten years old she was sent to her cousin Tina in Lesvos to live with her for 5 years because her mum and her grandparents were sick and needed treatment and a little child wasn’t healthy to be around such harsh chemicals. It took them three years to be healthy again but unfortunately, her dad who was in jail ever since she was five for illegal hacking and being affiliated with some cruel acts via the Dark Web was finally allowed out and her mum finally had the courage to divorce him and fight for her custody which took two years.

By the time she was allowed to return to the US she didn’t want to and chose to finish her high school with her grandparents in Central Macedonia in a small town called Giannitsa.  
Her mum was sad about it but allowed her but with one condition that she would have to be also studying just like any other US kid in order to be allegeable for their colleges and she did every March she would travel to the US and sit the exams and then return to Greece. While all throughout the years she would have to study both the Greek material and the US one she would be sent by her mother.

But this made her experience the best of both worlds…

She had become part of a Folk dancing group, Drama group and Folk Choir in Giannitsa and she was happy with herself and who she was.

She had a solid group of friends; Minas, Zorzet, Maria, Christina, Theodora, Dimitris, Karen (Katherine), Polly, Nicolette and Eva.

She also had another close friend who lived in Athens called Constantina (Tina) who she loved dearly.

She was happy when they graduated High School the group dissolved into many parts of Greece;

Minas; joined the Army and he was stationed first year in Evros, guarding the borders and later in Edessa.

Zorzet; went to Iraklion in Crete and started studying to become a Social Worker.

Maria; remained in Giannitsa to help her family with their farms and at the same time she attended an online college in Cyprus studying Agriculture.

Christina; went to Arta and started studying Folk music and music in general.

Theodora; went to Thessaloniki and started studying to become a nurse.

Dimitris; went to Athens and started studying Mechanics and IT for four years and later decided to study Cooking as Chef’s assistant.

Karen; went to Thessaloniki and started studying to become a Film Director and Script Writer.

Polly; went to Athens and started training to become an Olympic athlete in Track and at the same time she studied to become an OBGYN.

Nicolette; went to Thessaloniki and started studying to become a Chef.

Eva; went to Thessaloniki too sharing an apartment with Nicolette and started studying the first two years IT and Mechanics but gave up and chose to give up college and work in her dad’s bakery chain in the city where her older brother was working.

Felicity at that time came at a crossroads and didn’t know what to chose, she wanted to become a Film Director, a Script Writer, a Photographer and IT Specialist all at once!

Karen and her ended up submitting their applications to the same college which took them two years to graduate meaning by the time she was 20 she would have graduated and be free to return to US to attend MIT that will accept her application.

You see, Felicity and all the rest had attended two different High Schools who also had a similar Philosophy.

Everyone except Christina and Dimitris attended a Vocational High School which meant that by the time they graduated normal High School they also had a BA Degree in whatever sector they’ve chosen. While Christina and Dimitris attended a Music High School which had the same way only the BA Degree what to be related to an Instrument or Music related sectors.

Minas; was Computer Science and Video Games Designing.

Zorzet; was Nursing the first few months.

Maria; was Chef’s Assistant

Theodora; was Nursing and Special Education.

Polly; was Nursing and Entrance Psychology. 

Dimitris; the first year was Computer Science but after Christmas of the first year he transferred schools to Music School and he studying Music Composing and Digital Music Composing along with Piano, Classical Guitar and Trumpet.

Karen; was Chef’s Assistant the first year before she changed too.

Christina; was always in Music School studying History of Folk Instruments and Music, Piano, Clarinet and Zither.

Eva; was Computer Science till she graduated High School yet she didn’t like it.

Nicolette; was Computer Science till she graduated High School but she had no desire to follow it after High School.

As for Felicity; the first year she studied Computer Science and Web Designing and then the second along with Karen and Zorzet they transferred to Applied Arts. Felicity and Karen focused on Graphic Design and for Felicity, she added History of Arts while Zorzet focused on Traditional Sketching and Sculpting. 

Zorzet also seated exams for the top Greek Art University but didn’t got accepted so she has chosen the second passion, Social Science.

Once High School graduating exams rolled over a very traumatic period came for Felicity. On the first day of Pan-Hellenic exams, exams that all the High School students of Greece were tested for which University will give them a spot, her grandmother died in her sleep and her aunt Magda and her cousin Sofia found her when they woke up at 12 pm and Magda didn’t see her mother up and about. 

While her grandpa was out in the local coffee shop playing chess and tavli with his friends when he got the call from his youngest daughter who was crying telling him that his wife had just passed away.

Felicity had her phone turned off during the first round of exams but she always had been a gifted child when the clock stroked 9 am she felt a terrible pain in her chest and wanted to scream she then looked at the teachers who supervised and saw her school’s principal walking inside and whispering in the head supervisor’s ear then her name was called;

“Athanasia Felicity Ntioudi, please give your examination sheet to the front desk and report to the Principal’s office.”

In Greece, her name was Ntioudi just like her mum’s maiden name while her father’s was Smoak, Polish name.

Felicity looked horrified at them and protested saying how she wasn’t done or cheating. She was told that it wasn’t that reasons she was asked to give up her examination sheet, she was told that there was her Uncle Aristides in the principal’s office waiting for her because of a family emergency, so she gave up her exam sheet and walked to the principal office where she was told one of the worst news of her life.

She was given a second chance to seat that specific exam in the end of day and then she was sent home. She grieved while studying and refused to tell any of her friends what had happened because she knew that they wouldn’t be able to be there for her, studying was a priority for all of them.

In the Wednesday that came was the wake while she was studying in her room she could hear her grandma’s friends and husband crying and saying grieving songs in an old Greek Dialect while screaming and crying she was trying to block their wails and cries as she studied Algebra but gave up and walked out of her room to find it filled with people.

Her grandparents were respected people and part of the elite society of the town. Her grandparents had met in Athens during their time in the Academy where the trained to become teachers in 1949. In 1953 they graduated from the Academy and they started searching for jobs all over Europe only to find two positions in a Greek school in Hague, Netherlands. 

They stayed for three years there where they also got married. Then her grandpa got a job offer in Belgium as Head of Immigrant Education in the Greek Embassy in Belgium while her grandma taught in a Greek Afternoon School. In Belgium, her Uncle Anastasios and her mum, Antonia (Donna) were born in 1966.  
Then in 1968 her Aunt Marilena and Uncle Aristides were born also in Belgium.

In 1970 her grandparents with their four kids moved to Stockholm where her grandma continued being a teacher in a Greek Afternoon Schools and her grandpa continue working in the Greek Embassy in the very same position. And in the hot summer of 1973, her Aunt Magda was born in Thessaloniki while her parents were visiting. 

In 1979 her grandparents returned to Greece and built a home in Giannitsa where her grandpa became Principal of a Primary School and her grandma was a teacher there too where her aunt Magda went to for a while before she joined the rest of her siblings to Junior High and High School.

So, Felicity as a newly 18-year-old walked around the house hearing Swedish, French and Dutch and of course Greek. She knew how to speak all those languages just as well as English and Greek so she was able to accept condolences from family friends and co-workers.

Her Uncle Anastasios (Tasos) came with his family from Amsterdam when he learned of his mother’s passing.

In general, there were so many family members in the house that many had to rent a hotel room to sleep in because the house couldn’t keep them, there were so many blow up mattresses and room to lay down.

She shared her room with her cousins Sofia and Helena while both girls held Felicity as she cried.

Then during June as she and her grandpa were in her grandma’s childhood home in Aigio, Peloponnesus and they were going through old photos and laughing her grandpa had a heart attack and Felicity had to hold him while crying and calling for the ambulance.

Her grandpa died a month after her grandma and she was left alone in a way…her mother couldn’t take another day off and come from Las Vegas and the same went for Anastasios and his family. So, she, Aunt Marilena, Uncle Aristides and Aunt Magda with cousins Sonia and Tina were left arranging the funeral.

The first year in college was a hard one for Felicity she had traumatic summer and she grieving she had no emotional strength to go to parties and even keep in touch with her friends, hell she wasn’t speaking to Minas, Zorzet, Dimitris, Nicolette, Eva, Christina, Theodora and Maria she considered them her best friends instead she shared her pain with Karen, Polly and her friend Tina who dragged her to the Psychologist.

By summer she had become a little better and started coming out of the shocked state when in the summer they decided to take a group vacation and the first stop in their road trip was Athens to get to take Tina and Felicity to visit her grand-aunt Helena and her family, her second husband Kostas and her son, her Uncle Markos and her Uncle Aristides. Both cousins were living together in a small apartment in the same neighborhood as Felicity’s friend Tina and all three of them worked together, Aristides and Markos were firefighters and Tina was an ambulance driver and Paramedic.

During their second day while staying there Aristidis, Markos and Tina were called in for an emergency wild fire in a neighboring district and they were short stuffed so they called for backup. Felicity and Karen at the time had no idea that this small fire in a matter of half hour would turn into a national disaster with a three-day war against the fire and five districts and towns burned to ash.

Felicity was playing cards with her grand-aunt Helena in the balcony when Felicity smelled the smoke and looked up to see a huge wave of fire coming at them. That day would be permanently written in her mind.

As panicked people run towards the sea along with her. Felicity refused to leave as she tried to find her Uncles in the sea of firefighters and their trucks until she was caught by her Uncle Aristides who rushed her away from their burning house and towards the sea.

“Stay with aunt Helena and Kostas and your friend! Don’t lose them, Athanasia!” Aristides told her with emphasis as he kissed her ash-filled cheeks and rushed back to his Unit. Felicity then saw the explosion that took place and saw her Uncle Aristides run while he was on fire.

The burned corpse fell on her feet as she cried and looked utterly terrified as everyone froze and looked at them.

“Firefighter down! Firefighter down…oh god! Ari? Aristide! Holy Mother of Jesus! My cousin is dead!” Uncle Markos yelled as he rushed to Felicity and turned the burnt corpse to see the nametag on his jacket and saw his cousin and started crying.

Felicity was dragged away by her friend Tina as she acted as Paramedic.

Felicity had second-degree burns on her legs and back and inhaled smoked. She was taken to the hospital and from there she watched the news…101 people were killed, 173 were critically injured, 89 people were missing mostly elderly and orphaned children. Italy, Spain and Turkey even Russia volunteered to send Firefighting helicopters to assist since they were short-staffed but the President refused too proud to allow the help.

Felicity saw that her friend Karen was listed as a missing person while her uncle Aristides was listed as a deceased burned victim and a hero. Her grand-aunt Helena and her husband were also missing and her phone was blowing up with calls from her mum and other family members but she didn’t dare to pick it up not wanting to busy the phone-line just in case someone was trying to call for help. 

She was watching as nurses, doctors and paramedics were rushing in and out of the halls. 

Next to her was a small girl by the name of Carmen, she was a tourist from Spain and she had lost her parents in the whole ordeal. Thankfully Carmen was fifteen years old and Felicity could communicate with her in English, they kept each other sane until the news came on again and delivered the heart-ranching news that Carmen’s parents were found amongst the dead and that the Spanish Embassy in Greece had sent people to get her back to Spain.

Felicity held the grieving girl in her arms as she cried and went into shock while she for the first time realized the situation…

Karen was found lying at the beach with her leg suffering from third-degree burns and she had passed out from the pain. Paramedics and Felicity’s Uncle Markos found her. Karen’s grandmother was waiting for her in the hospital as she took the bus from Giannitsa to Thessaloniki and then flew to Athens with the first plane allowed to land in the capital. 

Felicity stood by Karen’s side through it all only being taken away by doctor’s to be examined herself and when she was allowed to leave and taken to the hotel where her grand-aunt and Kostas were staying. She would visit Karen from the beginning of the visiting hours until the end. 

But what strike her the wrong way was how none of her friends worried for her safety or Karen’s enough to even call her or even visit just like Karen’s grandma had done.

A week later, she, her grand-aunt Helena and Kostas were allowed back into their property or what was left of it and she finally realized…all the way from the hotel to their neighborhood it was filled with burnt cars pushed aside to allow space for the ambulances and rescue crews to come and go.

Nothing was salvaged from the fire nothing at all. 

The funeral happened with honors of a hero.  
In a year Felicity and her entire family were hit again and again and again with grief so much that three funerals in a year bankrupt the family.

She tried to find a job and she did as a barista just like her mum in a coffee shop with books.

She worked and went to classes although neither she nor Karen had the emotional strength to sit in a classroom and listen about Film Directors and Lens sizes.

Both girls were awakened by each others’ screams from the nightmares from the fire.  
It was time that both girls graduated from college yet they felt more lost than ever, Karen had no idea what she was supposed to do with her degree and neither did Felicity.

At least Felicity was accepted by MIT as her mother sent her application in.

And then suddenly Felicity had an idea, she dragged Karen with her in Massachusetts where Karen finally found creativity and started writing scripts and even found a part-time job as a translator.

Felicity at 24 years old she graduated for the third time and she had a secure job with QC. She left Karen behind in Massachusetts not feeling guilty since Karen herself had been hired as an Assistant Director in film production in Vancouver.

The four years during her MIT Felicity had come to realize something, ever since the wildfire that summer of 2009 she wasn’t the same, she had started withdrawing from Zorzet, Maria, Christina, Theodora, Dimitri, Polly, Eva and Minas. The only people she didn’t withdraw from were Tina and Karen who both had spent the three days in the fiery hell that summer of ’09.

Of course Polly had other things to worry about herself since there was a huge earthquake in her dad’s village in Lesvos, in 2012, that shook the entire village and grumbled it to the ground, Polly’s aunts and uncles even cousins were in danger and from what she managed to learn from Polly’s sister, Christy, their grandpa died and many other friends from the collapsing houses and even mountain rocks. Felicity felt such a bad friend that she couldn’t be there for her because she was packing for Starling City.

Yet, that summer after her first year in QC she visited Giannitsa and tried to surprise her old friends only to come to a halting realization…they had already thought of her as gone, as not part of their group. Dimitri also had stopped hanging out with them and he had a different life, traveling the world assisting great chefs all over the world. 

She was happy for him yet she missed their talks.

She was hurt seeing how passive-aggressive were Maria and Zorzet towards her…the accused her of leaving them behind and not being a good friend. And while there was this huge fight broken while they were out for coffee that Felicity erupted and yelled at them for how dare they accusing her of leaving them behind while they were nowhere in sight when her grandparents died, her uncle died, when she laid in the hospital surrounded by fire and when they learned of it their answer was and she quoted;

“Oh! It’s over now.”

She yelled at them that grieving wasn’t just a period that would just pass! And that they should have known better since while the years of them being in High School they lost four classmates, three in a car crash and one to suicide. And those classmates were their close friends and even neighbors.

She then stormed out of the coffee shop but as she walked home she heard Minas’ calls and turned to face him.

Ah! Minas, when they first met she was frightened of him because back in Lesvos she was extremely bullied by a guy that looked similar to his mannerisms. It took her three years out of the four years of them knowing each other to even allow him physically close to her and when she first hugged him on her birthday to thank him for coming she felt weird. 

Then, she was tired of hearing of her girlfriends of gushing over crushes that she had chosen him to be hers just for the sake of conversation and to be just like them. In all honesty, he was the only male friend she ever had. She liked their conversations about TV shows and comics and movies. And how he didn’t mind her rambling about all of the behind-the-scenes she knew about the movies and tv shows and actor’s lives.

During the third year of High School Felicity had to fake that she wanted to ask Minas out on a date just so she can shut up Maria and Zorzet’s pushing to do so….so she sends Maria and Zorzet as messengers and she hid behind a wall close enough where Minas and Dimitri were drinking their morning coffee during the break. Felicity heard Minas say while laughing that he would accept to go on date with her if she wasn’t that fat and dropped twenty pounds…

Felicity was hurt by how sallow he was…she thought of him as a better person. Yes, she wasn’t model thin and she was getting bigger thanks to the amazing cooks her grandma and her aunts were. She wasn’t hurt because of the rejection she was hurt that Minas’ standard was just like any other males in the school which made her so angry. Fat girls were cute and worth of the males’ attention just like any other female!

She had to pretend to be surprised by his answer and then hurt but she was beyond mad! 

She wouldn’t allow him to get to her besides everyone deserved their opinions and now she could finally stop pretending she had a crush on him for the sake of being just like any other girl.

Their friendship took no-hit and Felicity pretended as it never happened but she was careful what she entrusted him with and revealed nothing major, their friendship was slowly warming up since he too started to talk more about his home life and his family with her and she started to talk to him about other things that also interested her other than movies, TV shows, and comics.

But all that changed when she moved to Thessaloniki, she visited four months after she settled into her house and called him out for dinner while Karen was visiting her grandma. 

They went out for dinners bad it was so awkward and quiet to the point Minas asked if he should invite Christina and Theodora too who were in town and she agreed just so they won’t die from boredom and silence.

After that every second weekend she visited to see her grandparents they would invite her out but she would feel detached and the same feeling was experienced by Karen too!  
Both girls discussed it while on the bus back to Thessaloniki and had tried to find a cure for it but came up blank.

Felicity had come to accept that Minas didn’t think of her as his friend anymore and more like a schoolmate if not an aquatint.

So, when she turned to face him while he was dressed in his Army uniform a clear sign he had just climbed down from the bus.

“Hey! I thought it was you! How are you?” He asked unaware of everything and he smiled.

“I’m well, how about you? Did you have a day off?” Felicity asked him kindly as she put her hands like so and let them hang down.

“Yeah, my dad is sick and I need to help my mum. Want to walk with me while I go home? You know to catch up…I didn’t got to say goodbye to you and Karen when you girls left…It was my turn to guard the borders…you know your cousin Elias is also in the Army.” He rambled nervously and Felicity studied him. He wasn’t acting like himself.

So, like that she agreed. They walked to his house which was on the other side of the town and there she learned that his dad had been diagnosed with cancer and he had a few days of life. Felicity felt bad for him and hugged him saying how sorry she was and that she was here if he needed someone. 

This time the hug was prolonged by Minas and Felicity noticed it, it was seconds but still, she had been in Minas position too many times and knew he was trying to hold onto someone who knew how he felt.

After that Felicity got to her grandparents house, now her house and laid down to sleep she was too emotionally tired. Half hour into her slumber she was awakened by Maria calling her.

Confused she picked up the phone;

“Athanasia, Minas’ dad just died.” Maria said shocked and saddened. Felicity never met the guy…maybe three or four times but that was it. 

“Oh! God! How is he?” Felicity asked Maria and Maria sighed.

“Broken. I’m taking the first bus and Zorzet will go to his house.” Maria informed her and she nodded at the useless piece of information.

“You should.” Felicity said with an emotionless tone.

“Okay, I have to get ready.” Maria said as she hanged up and Felicity did the same.

She fell on the bed and looked at the ceiling. She was sick of funerals and death.

A couple of minutes into deafening silence Theodora texted her that at 8 pm there will be awake and she would come by her house to pick her up and to alert Karen.

Karen had come to her house at 7 pm dressed in black and sad both girls gave pep-talks to one another and revised what was the wake etiquette.  
Karen’s family were atheists.

Felicity’s family ranged from Jewish, to Orthodox, to Catholics and to atheists so it was according to the family member. When her grandparents and Uncle died they were Orthodox while her mum and dad were Jewish, her mum had converted before their wedding and remained one. Her cousins in Amsterdam and her uncle were Catholics, her uncle converted before marrying Amelia.

She and Karen were picked up by Theodora at 8 pm sharp and they walked to Minas’ house only to see it packed with people. 

Felicity got violent flashbacks of her grandparents’ and her uncle’s funerals and she subconsciously reached for Karen’s hand and they climbed the stairs only to see Maria, Zorzet and Minas talking in the stairs, comforting him as he cried.

Felicity lit the candle and took out old candles that were a fire hazard and turn to Minas to say how sorry she was. She couldn’t bring herself to look Minas in the eyes or his mum when she walked inside and saw the coffin and laid the floors on top of the dead body.

“I know how you feel.” Felicity had whispered in Minas’ mum’s ear as she hugged her and the woman squeezed her in a tight hug as she started to sob.

She then looked around her as Minas’ dad’s mum started to say the exact same grieving song in dialect and wailing that Felicity saw for a second her grandma’s coffin instead of Minas’ dad’s coffin and she was itching to run out of there to go somewhere happy.

She asked around if they needed help serving the coffee but no one knew her enough to trust her with such a thing.

So, she walked out at the back porch and sat in the stairs before she was joined by Minas and she smiled painfully but he seemed fine.

The next day there was the funeral and when she saw Minas at the end of it and hugged him and again the hug was longer and her waist was occupied by his hand which she felt it was odd since their hugs didn’t last long.

The following days Felicity spend them trying to contact Minas to no avail yet he was seeing her messages but never responding then she had Maria calling her as if the fight at the coffee shop never happened and boasting in disguise, masking it as telling her about Minas’ wellbeing.

She never felt close to Minas but now she felt even further away.

The day came when she and Karen had to leave and return to US and this time Felicity was sure that she wanted to become more of a person she was right now so she legally changed it to Felicity Smoak instead of Athanasia Ntioudi for good.

Her mum understood about taking her ex-husband’s name but her daughter wanted to have a clean slate.

The following months she’s been trying to contact Minas yet nothing. She spoke to Karen about it because she was confused as hell.

Was she doing it the wrong way?

Three years later and still nothing…she was done calling and work didn’t allow her many trips back home but whenever she visited Greece everyone told Minas was in the base.

Then Oliver Queen started asking weird favors and then bled in her car and then she joined Team Arrow.

Then the Undertaking happened and she had terrible flashbacks of the fire…it’s been six years since then…

Felicity sat in the Foundry breathing in and out, in and out, in and out, trying to stop scenes flashing before her eyes as she felt the earth rumble.

Tears slipped on her cheeks as she closed her eyes and brought her knees to her chest and sobbed for all 101 people who were killed and the 14 who were never found…for her uncle…for the beautiful home she grew up spending part of her summers, the very same home she took her first steps, the very same home where her parents got engaged in and had the many celebratory lunches/dinners during Christmas and New Years.

Memories flood her brain and flashed before her eyes too tired to push them away, she allowed the emotional pain…she held onto her legs where the burns where and on her back and shoulder…she still had the scars.

She didn’t hear Oliver coming downstairs with Diggs as they rushed to her asking if she was okay when Oliver touched her knee Felicity startled let out a name in hopeful tone and eyes only to be filled with pain and disappointment later;

“Uncle Ari?”

“What?” Oliver asked confused and worried;

“Nothing, how are things out there?” Felicity shook him off as she stood up and walked away from him. Not wanting to be with anyone at the moment but herself.  
Oliver gave her a small report on how many were dead and how many injured and so on but he and Diggs noticed how Felicity was acting, she looked as if she was trying to hold a pile of puke back.

“Felicity? Are you going to throw up?” Oliver asked her as he touched her back that caused her to jump and flinch away from him only to worry him more.

“No! I’m good…I’m well.” She said as she quickly moved away from him.

That day was that Oliver and Diggs started to suspect there was something wrong with their IT girl.

But many things distracted them and they forgot about it since Felicity started acting normal again.

One year later, Sara appeared and as they were training the whole scar conversation started and Felicity found herself saying she had a scar.

That comment reminded Oliver and Diggs their previous worries.

“I was twenty years old…seven years ago today actually…I was visiting my grand-aunt and her husband with my three best friends as our first stop to a road trip across Greece when my Uncles Aristides and Markos along with my best friend Tina were called in for an emergency, my uncles were firefighters and my best friend was a paramedic/ambulance driver. There was this wildfire in the neighbor district from we were and they were short-stuffed. We had no idea that in half-hour time a huge wave of fire would burn five districts and towns in a matter of three days…killing 101 people, 173 were critically injured and 89 people were missing mostly elderly and orphaned children. Italy, Spain and Turkey even Russia volunteered to send Firefighting helicopters to assist since they were short staffed but the President refused too proud to allow the help.” She started saying the trivial facts first that came easily to her and she could see the shock and horror in the eyes of Sara, Oliver and Diggs.

She wondered what their faces would be once they learned her role in all of this.

“My best friend Karen was amongst the missing, they found her lying near the shore her legs suffered third-degree burns and her lungs were filled with smoke it was a miracle she wasn’t dead… I refused to leave grand-aunt Helena’s house calling my uncles and best friend Tina to see if they were okay when I saw people running away and firefighter and rescuers along with paramedics running towards us then I saw my Uncle Aristides running towards me telling me to move…my back had caught fire he put it out and yelled at me to find grand-aunt Helena and her husband and Karen….i didn’t listen. I was frozen in my spot when suddenly there was this explosion and my Uncle Aristides was in the eye of it…I saw him running towards me while on fire…he fell down pleading for help as he grasped my legs burning them in the process before he died in front of my legs…next thing I hear is my Uncle Markos’ voice yelling that a firefighter was down and as he turned the corpse to read the name tag he started sobbing for his cousin then I was dragged away by Tina to the hospital. I suffered second-degree burns in my back and legs and smoke inhalation. So I have three scars on my back and two in each leg that was my Uncle Ari’s fingerprints…” She said as quickly as she could but she had to stop for breaths but didn’t allow herself much time the shorted time she spent storytelling the longer she will think about it. She didn’t even want to look at the trio before her but she had no choice it was them or the ground…her eyes were shifting up and down like crazy for a moment she thought she was going to pass out.

She then looked more carefully at the trio before her and analyzed their faces…as usual whenever she said that story…shocked, shocked and…shocked.

She felt a wave of small anger rising in her why they acts so normal when it came to them yet they act shocked when it came to hers? Normal people do go through shit too!

“Excuse me.” She said quickly as she rushed out and dialed Karen’s number.

“Hey, can you talk?” She asked in Greek and Karen answered yes in the other side.

Oliver and the solider and assassin stayed in their spot until Felicity left and the door shook them out of their state.

“Dude, go after her!” Diggs exclaimed to Oliver who shook his head and run outside only to see Felicity pacing back and forth on the phone and when he tried to listen in he couldn’t understand anything.

What language was she speaking?

“What the fuck is wrong with humanity, Karen?” She asked her best friend who sighed in the other side of the line and then asked her what was going on.

Oliver seeing her talking on the phone made him feeling as if he was intruding.

The time she spent talking to Karen she calmed down but didn’t want to return to the Foundry and their pity/shocked looks.

She went into her car and drove to her home where she locked the doors and windows and started doing much needed chores while talking on the phone with Karen.

Then she Skyped with Tina telling her she told her new friends in town about the fire put she stupidly runaway before they had time to react from fear of rejection.

She then cooked her favorite food, chicken breasts with lemon, mustard and olive oil dressing. Then she boiled some vegetables such as green peas, carrots and normal peas.

She ate while watching photos on her laptop of her summer before the fire and after.

After the fire she and the rest who weren’t hurt that bad joined forces and searched through the rumbles and the sea, she and some other people dived and searched for bodies.

She saw beyond horrifying things and I’m not talking about blood and gore I’m talking about burnt bodies, dead, burnt houses, burnt cars, burnt bodies tangled up together like a parent curdling their child protecting it from the flames, giving them a few more seconds of life than they had.

She then took part in trying to reunite families together through help lines.

Back to the present; she finished washing the dishes and went to bed, sleep took her after she turned around in the bed for at least an hour.

She didn’t notice the shadows watching over her in the window. A couple minutes after sleep took over her the shadows were ready to leave when Felicity’s whimper made them turn and look at her.

They couldn’t translate what she was saying until Oliver took out of his phone and put a translator on and put it near her mouth.

The translator showed them that the language was Greek. Shocked the two shadows looked at each other.

The translator recorded everything and translated them;

“Where are your parents, little guy?”

“Let them talk to them…”

“You’re dead! How can I see you?”

“I’m so so sorry I can’t help you! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Oh! God I’m so so sorry!”

“Uncle Ari? I thought….i thought…somebody help! Please he’s on fire!”

“Nooo! Please!”

Felicity gasped awake as she looked around her as tears streamed down her face. For a minute she looked around her before she sobbed and curled under the covers sobbing.

The shadows run over the rooftops and then jumped before the Verdant and walked inside a secret passage.

Sara and Oliver walked into the Foundry and Oliver waved his phone at Diggs who looked at them expectantly.

“She spoke Greek in her sleep.” Oliver said confused as he gave him the phone and he saw the translations.

“Seriously? I’m gonna type Greek Big Fire and see what comes up.” Diggs said with a confused shrug.

Their search didn’t need more than the first article that came up.

Article:

THEMA NEWS;

GHOST TOWNS, BODIES AND ASH MAKES ATHENS AND THE NEARBY DISTRICTS LOOK LIKE A DYSTOPIAN MOVIE SET: (Read on page 3)

On June 10th, 2009 is a calm hot summer afternoon when at 17:45 pm the small districts called Tavros, Matti, Glyfada, Kallithea and Eksarxia started to smoke. In a matter of 30 minutes, those five districts were engulfed in flames that killed 101 of people.  
In a matter of 30 minutes, the lives of thousands upon thousands of people were put at risk, many rushed to the beaches surrounding some areas those were the few lucky ones. Others burnt trapped in their homes holding their loved ones tight as the fire burnt their lives’ work and them.

Many found their deaths while jumping off a small cliff that led to the nearest beaches but the smoke clouding the sky and turning day into the night made it impossible to see and anything from airplanes and helicopters to fly.

Many flights directed to Athens from abroad and entire Greece were re-routed to Italy, France, Russia and Turkey promising their passengers free hotel stay. Furthermore, many ships both merchant and civilian ones weren’t allowed to throw anchor in Pireas because of the thick smoke.

This wildfire was categorized as the second worse fire Greece ever experienced after 1917’s fire in Thessaloniki that burnt the entire center of the town changing it completely from what it was then to what it is now, many had said that it was conspiracy fire to smoke out the Jews put by the Turks since it was six years after the distractive fire in Smyrna and just three years after the Armenian massacre.

The smoke clouded all over Greece and photos from the International Space Station passing over Greece at the time of the fire paint a very horrifying picture since the smoke and fires were able to be seen from up there.

The incomplete action made by the Present of Greece was the cost for the very old equipment and a small number of responders couldn’t control the fire.

The surrounding countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Turkey and Russia volunteered to send help in the form of firefighting aircraft but it was refused by the Present. But in the shock of everyone, the Greek immigrants in these countries banded together in a matter of 24 hours and sent first aid kits, food and clean water, clothes and urged many of other citizens in their countries to do the same. 

The second day of the wildfire some of those immigrants had drove their own cars bringing people and volunteers to help put out the fire many of whom stayed long after the fire was put out and helped searched through the wreckages.

Many of the tourists visiting Athens at the time of the fire were also hurt during it which caused an International incident but thankfully the families of those people didn’t pressed any charges understanding that many of the firefighters and paramedics had lost their lives and/or had to watch their loved ones burn.

For three days the telephone lines all over Greece were down heaved by the billions of 166 (991) calls. Many who were answering those calls had to hear people in their last moments, mothers and fathers even children cry and being burnt. Many citizen cried and pleaded, asked why the first responders had forgotten them. Numerous were the callers who just called to give their names, address and last words to be delivered to loved ones.

A horrifying loss was the loss of an orphanage full of kids sleeping being burnt with them inside, the solo survivor was small kid age five years old going by the name Alexis, he had disobeyed the nap time rule and he was playing with the toys when he turned to the window and saw an orange sky and the fire burning the forest and playground of the orphanage, he tried to wake up as many as he could but no one believed him. Alexis runs out to the forest and runs towards the main street, he stood there alone watching the orphanage burn while he screamed for help but no one came. 

He walked himself to the nearest police station finding it burnt to the ground, he said he saw a burned street sign that pointed to the nearest beach and he runs to see if anyone was there he could ask for help when he arrived he saw the beach full of panicked people calling in their phones for help, a kind woman by the name Helena had seen him and rushed to him bringing him the little water she had in a bottle and giving it to him. 

The woman had asked him where his parents were but he told her he was an orphan. 

The woman then asked him if he saw her grand-niece on the way there and described her as blue eyes and dark brown hair and white skin but the boy had said no.

Helena’s missing grand niece was one of the thousands of missing people reported that day.

Mrs. Helena kept Alexis by her side for total of four days refusing to let him alone and when Mrs. Helena and her husband Kostas were taken to the local hospital a happy reunion between her grand-niece who had been one of the burnt victims occurred, the good thing was that their story wasn’t the only one with happy ending, the bad thing is that many also didn’t get to see their loved ones ever again.

In Mrs. Helena’s case was a mixture of grief and happiness as her grand niece and son were alive yet her nephew wasn’t so lucky, he died saving his niece from pipe explosion due to enormous heat.

Her nephew was firefighter, Lieutenant Aristides Ntioudis, a hero whose family gonna miss him terribly.

Many of the victims who had managed to get discharged and be able to walk joined forces with many citizens from all over Greece in the search parties for missing people.  
Some were found dead, others were found alive and hiding in hilltops and deserted beaches in the area.

Unfortunately, the wildlife surrounding the forests in the area were also put into danger and harmed many of the search parties came across dead deers, cats, dogs, birds, turtles, foxes and snakes. A lot of people took in strays and hurt animals nursing them back to health and even adopting them but the damage was done.

If now, six years later, walk-in those districts you still see ghosts from those horrible three days as houses that were there aren’t anymore and the people’s smiles aren’t genuine their eyes are sad and depressed many too afraid to get comfortable anymore since they all have a to-go bag ready. 

A lot of children who had lost everything those days say they refuse to set foot in those areas because is too much.

What caused the fire? The official answer was released to the public a year later, it was an arson put by a blacklisted realtor wanting to build illegal mansions in the area and the fire went out of control.

The realtor by the name Thomas Liontaris was charged with 10 lifetimes imprisonment and arson, many of the Greek citizens were outraged at his actions and started to send death threats his way.

But life moves on yet scars emotional and physical ones stay with you and those districts are an example of it.

Author: Lisa Tzalanis.

Photographer: George Andreas.

For Thema News.

End of Article:

Diggs stopped reading and took a deep breath as he rubbed his face with his hands too distraught to say anything.

He turned to look at Oliver and Sara waiting for their reaction.

Their reactions were; folded hands, teary eyes and shaking hands.

“Guys, if Felicity survived this and Uncle Ari is Lieutenant Aristides Ntioudis then she must be going through hell and if what she told us to happen the nightmare she was having? Oliver, she needs us, today is the anniversary of her Uncle’s death and God knows how many more she lost during that day.” Sara said in realization and wiped her tears.

“She saw him die and he was the last thing he touched was her and she had it permanently imprinted on her body, that is so many levels fucked up!” Diggs said sighing as he stood up and walked out of the Foundry breathing some fresh air and shoot a text to Lyla saying how much he loved her and then texted Felicity a text asking if she wanted to talk tomorrow.

The Next Day:

Felicity woke up and put her favorite band called Bastille on and blasted as she started her day by washing her bloated face from crying all night.

Then she went and made coffee and cereal for breakfast and started singing to the songs as she ate while going through her phone. She purposely avoided opening Diggs texts while she video call Tina who for her time it was still June 10th at 9 pm and she had change clocked out of her shift in the hospital and kept her company on the bus ride home.

Tina’s family lived in Tavros and the fire had destroyed everything they had and killed her little sister and couple months ago there was this earthquake of 4.6 Richter scale and an after earthquake of 5.1 Richter scale that leveled half of Tavros and killed her parents she was a mess and the idiot Tina (not in a bad way) kept it from Felicity because she knew that Felicity would have taken the first flight to Athens to be by her side and so would Karen. 

Tina had begged them not to come to stay as far away as possible and that if they were safe she had a little peace of mind. She had refused time off from the hospital to grieve and she was using her frustration in helping the district rebuild what they had lost. Felicity and Karen had sent money to Tina who at first refused but then accepted as the medical and funeral bills started to come in.

Felicity and Karen had come up with a plan, Felicity check on Tina during her morning and Tina’s nights while Karen checks in with Tina during Karen’s night and Tina’s mornings, it was the best they could do other than be physically present and if Tina refused their calls…

Felicity would send the big guns; Uncle Markos, Kostas and grand-aunt Helena.

Oliver and Sara had just realized that there was more to their IT girl than they thought…they had this romanticized idea that Felicity’s childhood was the plain American upbringing but it was far from it…and most importantly it wasn’t all that American in the first place!


	2. Smokestackes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity faces the music volume 1.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! How are you, people? I hope you are doing well and wonderful. If you don't then remember that through hardships we become stronger and through doubt wiser.
> 
> Now, for this chapter, I want to warn you that it contains mention of rape, abuse and violence in general. So read it at your own risk.
> 
> Furthermore, it contains many historical references that I might have gotten wrong or mixed up, I tried to do my research and ask my dad whose into our country's war history more than me since he was 25 years in the Army. Moreover, Felicity's family tree is mildly based on my own family tree. This chapter started forming in my mind while my summer vacation in my maternal grandma's hometown, we spent a month in the wonderful town called Aigio in Peloponesus. Then it got more of a dramatic turn since I had some troubles with my friends, I'm watching my friends' group disintegrating before my eyes along with my mental health and I thought I would put my troubles yet again in a chapter.
> 
> Lastly, let's pretend three things; one that Facebook existed way before it actually did, two that Laurel and Thea know about Roy, Syd Sara and Oliver being vigilantes and three that Roy isn't officially part of Team Arrow yet but he's helping out here and there...honestly I decided last minute to add these four into the story so...
> 
> I wanted to say a huge thank you to 6 Kudos and 422 hits and 1 comment! It means a lot! I hope you enjoy this one just as much and leave a kind and constructive comment. 
> 
> One more thing, at the end of this chapter before the End Notes there will be two pictures of potential covers I made for this story, I want you to tell me in your comments which one you think would suit better for this story and the one which would take most comments would be always featured in the end or beginning of each chapter! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Felicity finished her call with Tina and then she looked at the distance and as she blinked and then she burst out crying. She stood up crying and went the wet her face with water but she couldn’t stop crying.

“I can’t. I can’t handle more death.” She told herself as she looked at herself and then she started crying again.

She slid against the bath tab and kept crying.

But then she saw the numerous calls from Diggs she sighed and she was in no mood to answer them she just put on some jeans, a sweater and her jacket and grabbed the bag she had last night while throwing her diary, a book she was currently reading, laptop, its charger, her camera and slowly she walked to her car taking her time.

She climbed to the car and she drove to the neighboring town where there was this coffee shop with a cozy atmosphere. She grabbed a warm tea with apple, cinnamon and Mexican spices and a cold sandwich as she sat at the back of the shop and she quietly people watched until she was done eating. Then she saw couple sitting a few tables away from her and as the light hit them it was only their silhouettes showing as they held their mugs close to their lips while smiling to one another. Felicity took out her camera and adjusted the lens’ light receptor and deactivated the flash and took three pictures of them.

She then opened her laptop and with Bluetooth sent the pictures to her laptop from her camera and she smiled at how beautiful they were.

Suddenly she realizes that the couple is looking at her curiously and a little offended and the guy is walking up to her, she gulped in fear.

“Excuse me, miss, did you take a picture of us?” The guy demanded to know with a semi angry tone.

“Uhm…eh…yes I did, I’m sorry if it bothered you it’s just the light and you two looked so perfect and the aesthetics were incredible! I couldn’t help myself, if you want I can delete them, I’m sorry!” Felicity said nervously as she lowered her head and scrambled on her computer to delete them but the guy said;

“NO! Could you show us?” The guy exclaimed just in time before Felicity tapped the delete option and startled her.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah! Of course!” Felicity said caught off guard and the guy and the girl came over to her table and she showed them.

“WOW! Could you send them to us? It’s so Instagram worthy! You have a talent, miss!” The girl said amazed and the guy on the other side of Felicity’s chair nodded excitedly as the couple both reached for their phones.

“I’m glad you like it!” Felicity said relieved as she looks at them and they smiled back at her.

“I’m Tania and this is Trevor, it’s so nice to meet you!”

“Felicity, glad to meet you too!”

They shook hands and the couple sat down on her table.

“So, do I send them to you with Bluetooth?” Felicity asked them and they nodded as they started the process.

Once they were done, Tania and Trevor exchanged social media names, mostly Instagram and said their goodbyes. Felicity had three Instagram profiles, one where she shares pictures that include Team Arrow members, another one with the Greek side of her family and friends and the last one it was completely artistic with the landscape, cityscape and portraits photography.

She smiled when she got the notification of her new fans following her on there.

She then closed down her computer and phone and grabbed her book and ordered another cup of tea and got comfortable as she started reading her book.

She smiled when her tea was brought and started drinking without tearing her eyes from it until she heard the chair opposite hers shrieked as it was dragged across the floor and she sighed annoyed as she closed the book and look at the face staring at her smiling with a giddily her way.

Felicity gasped at the sight of the man standing before her, she hadn’t talked to him in years and the last thing she had said to him was to go get his girl.

Before her stood none other than her 2nd Grade of High School secret crush, Alex Chatzis. She and Alex were going to different school but they shared a schoolyard and a cafeteria so she got to see him a lot during school hours and then every Monday, Thursday and Friday they would meet again along with other pupils who did extra classes in form of Private lessons, they were together in Chemistry, Literature, Algebra, Geometry and Physics.

Alex was normally seated opposite her and he was the best in the class, he answered in nanoseconds and Felicity at first got annoyed that he got everything right but soon she realized that during the breaks he had zero life experience and so she boosted her ego by helping his navigate his life in a sense as Alex used to ask the class their opinion on various topics from where to take the girl he liked to how to make sure his parents were civil during his grandma’s birthday dinner.

Felicity was the only girl in that class so it was a struggle for her to find friends but soon she started talking to some guys named Panos, Achilles and Chris. She would walk home with Panos after class and they would meet to go together to class. Soon Chris joined them too. When that started Alex started to tease them and saying how they had an open relationship, Panos visible got annoyed and blushed while Chris laughed and said that Felicity wasn’t his type because he already had a boyfriend. Panos and her became close friends and soon Alex started not to speak to her anymore or avoid her which confused her for the longest time. Then Alex’s best friend joined the classes, Markos, was a dick and the first time Markos saw Felicity and Panos arriving to class, Felicity had grabbed Panos hand and pulled him back prevent him from crossing the road because a speeding car would have hit him and the force of the pull made Panos hit his head to the pole at his right caused Felicity to cup his face to see the bruise forming in his forehead. Markos wouldn’t let it go and started calling them love birds which pissed Alex off and caused him to yell at the top of his lungs and slam his hands to the table yelling “Shut up!”, then he stormed out of class.

Everyone was staring at the door shocked while Panos whined that he was getting dizzy. Markos though wouldn’t stop, the next day he found Felicity as she was coming out of the bathroom and cornered her and started asking her what was her relationship status and Felicity strongly said she was single and her and Panos were friends and that if Markos wanted for her to arrange a date for him with Panos he could just say it.

Markos didn’t like that answer and when the break came Markos stole the new shampoo Alex had bought before class from his bag and squeezed some to Felicity’s head as she was taking a nap on the table. Felicity woke up by something tickling her neck and Markos’ laughter. The shampoo was almond nuts and strawberry two things Felicity was strongly allergic too! When she realized what it was she quickly gulped her anti-allergic pills she was given and stormed towards Markos she slapped him and then tried to knee him in the nuts but he grabbed her hands and slammed her to the wall, she tried to knee him again but he kneed her to stomach before she had a chance after that her entire body and head itched and she started to hyperventilate, Panos, Chris and Achilles rushed her to the teacher’s office they took her with an ambulance to the ER.

Markos was expelled from the center and Alex apologized on his behalf.

Around the second year at the Private Lesson Center Felicity had noticed how Alex started to get buff and dumber which made her once giggle to herself when she made the connection. She and Panos would see him frequently to the gym near her neighborhood and she spent most of her Sunday evenings there waiting for her friend Fotis to finish his dance class so they can go to their theater class and she saw Alex many times practicing MMA and boxing even lifting weights. She was happy that he found somewhere to take his energy out since many times his hyper-awareness would make him tap his foot under the table making it shake and prevent the rest students from keeping notes or concentrating.

Alex saw her many times there and just nod her way never said hi unlike her that if she saw him somewhere she waved and said hi.

The third-year and their last Alex didn’t show up for classes and Felicity wondered what was up with him but he joined for couple lessons prior to the Pan-Hellenic exams and it was evident his attention was somewhere else, she kindly asked what was up and Alex told her of the girl he was in love with and showed her a picture, Felicity knew her and she had nothing bad to say about her.

Amalia was a kind girl and the ex of her cousin Elias, Elias had been a dick to her and used to abuse her physically until Felicity beat Elias during a family picnic when Elias started to grab Amalia’s hand and shaking her yelling how dare she forgot the yogurt and orange juice at her home. Felicity and uncle Markos grabbed Elias by the shirt and dragged him deep into the forest where Felicity and Uncle Markos lectured him on manners and then Felicity gave him a couple of punches when Elias said that woman’s place was the kitchen. Both she and her Uncle were baffled how the hell did he pick up such awful manner in a family that most of the women were survivors and took the lead, hell even worked when the times in Greece didn’t allow women to work. The family’s men were supportive and kind, how the hell did Elias become such a pig was a big mystery.

Felicity had warned Alex to be gentle, kind and patient with Amalia while wooing her.

He took her advice and soon Alex and Amalia were a thing. Alex couldn’t stop gashing about their relationship and it was adorable. Felicity felt a little jealous because she wanted someone to love her like that.

As she soon became 17 years old on her birthday Alex was the only one after her family who wished her happy birthday, not even her friends remembered.

Around close to Easter as their Pan-Hellenic exams approached Minas and her had started to become close while she and Alex drifted apart when one day she was talking with Karen and Polly and she confessed to them that she had a crush on Alex Chatzis and she didn’t realize that Maria, Zorzet and Minas were standing behind them but they said nothing. Two days later, she was fighting with Minas about something about etiquette and its importance when Maria called her name and then Zorzet pointed to Alex rushing out of the school while he was texting when suddenly Maria called his name and that Felicity had a crush on him.

She tried to go towards Maria but Minas grabbed her in a form of piggyback and made her fall down then when she stood up and tried to go towards to Maria while Alex saw them and smiled as he walked up to them but Minas stopped her again by hugging her from behind and shutting her mouth while they all laughed.

Alex asked what was going on and Minas jokingly started kissing her cheek while Felicity tried to fight him off but that caused Minas to cup her head forcefully and kiss her right on the lips. She could hear everyone gasping from shock while Felicity gave up fighting with her hand and stepped on his foot and then punch him in the stomach and then walked away wiping her mouth with disgust.

Karen, Alex and Polly rush after her she went to the bathroom and washed her mouth.

“What the actual fuck?” Karen and Polly laughed in shock.

Alex had just folded his hands and watched laughing.

“What?”

“Nothing, he’s very passionate about you.” Alex said and he couldn’t keep his laughter.

After that Alex helped her get her stuff and she ditched school with him they went to grab food and they talked about Amalia and how adorable she was.

Then they went to the private lesson class. The following days they had no contact and studied. Then the exams came on, then her grandma died. Alex came to her funeral because his parents were her grandma’s and grandpa’s students in Primary school and needed to pay their respects. Alex was with her on the table with Amelia while they served the grieving coffee after the funeral.

Amalia had gone to the bathroom when Alex showed her the engagement ring and Felicity told him to go get his girl.

That was the last time she saw him.

** _ Now: _ **

Felicity stared at him as he smiled widely at her.

“Γεια σου, Αλέξ!” (Hello, Alex!) She said smiling mirroring confusion.

“You are a blonde one now, I don’t like it. It’s foreign on you.” Alex said smiling as he thanked the waitress with a charming smile. As he grabbed the cup she noticed that he wore no wedding ring.

“What are you doing here?” Felicity said seriously as her smile became a frown.

“I ain’t going to lie but Amalia and I wanted to get away from one another, I called Karen and she was in Vancouver and she was about to fly to Kansas so she said I should visit you and tell you my pains and sorrows. And make up for not being a good friend in the past seven years.” He said smiling.

“Let’s start with what happened to you and her?” Felicity said as she set her book down and smiled.

“We divorced. She was demanding at the end. It’s okay. So what are we doing tonight?” Alex asked her smiling and Felicity sighed.

“I have something planned with another friend, want to reschedule for the weekend?” Felicity said smirking and Alex nodded excitedly.

“So, what’s up with you? How’s life?” Alex asked excited and Felicity sighed and they started exchanging stories.

That conversation was carried out in front of tea/coffee, burgers and then ice cream and a stroll around the neighboring town where they saw the sunset while sitting at a bench facing the park.

Alex walked her to her car when around 9 pm and that when a thought came to her mind, how did Alex know where she was and how did he arrive so fast from Greece?

She asked him and he chuckled and said;

“Oh! I moved here a year after the divorce and I knew where you were because I saw the photo you took of that couple on your artistic Instagram, I recognized the chairs I grab my coffee every morning from that coffee shop.” Alex said as he held the door open for her and she smiled as she climbed inside and got comfortable.

“Have a safe trip back to Starling City.” Alex said as he kissed her cheek and she smiled as they said goodnight.

As she drove home she received a text from her work friend, Alisha, canceling their clubbing because her daughter had a stomach bug and she feared she had gotten it too, she didn’t want to spread it. Alisha also asked Felicity to inform Alisha’s boss that she would be calling sick the next day. Felicity had asked if she could help and Alisha asked her to get a list of meds from an open pharmacy, she did that and she went to Alisha’s apartment which was next door to hers.

She unlocked her home’s door she felt a wave of satisfaction as she mentally remembered how awful she felt when she left her place and how cheerful she was now.

She had a bath as she came out of it dressed in her PJs she was talking with Karen with headphones and texting Alex that she arrived safely.

She was sitting on her couch when she heard footsteps and quickly text Karen that she had to go and hang up.

Just as she grabbed the lamp from the coffee table she was ready to crash it on anybody’s head but stopped at the sight of Oliver’s worried face.

“FELICITY! WHY AREN’T YOU PICKING UP YOUR PHONE? ARE YOU OKAY?” Oliver exclaimed as Felicity held her chest breathing hard.

“Because I was busy?” She rhetorically asked as she let the lamp down.

“Busy doing what?” Oliver asked with a pressing tone.

“Having a private life.” Felicity said with the same tone and she looked back to her phone and answered Alex’s text and couldn’t help but giggle at Alex joke about the wayward fry Felicity chased during their burgers due to the wind blowing it away.

“Were you safe?” Oliver asked a little more persistent and annoyed by Felicity’s behavior.

“Oh yeah! I almost choke on a fry because my friend choked on his coke and made funny noises and faces that is all the danger I’ve been in.” Felicity said laughing and then texted some more and then started laughing then put the phone to her mouth and said something in Greek that Oliver didn’t understand but he took his phone and pretended to text while in reality, he recorded her voice.

“Alright, I need to get going, I’m glad you had fun tonight and have a good night, Felicity!” Oliver said as he walked to the door and Felicity just waved at him not even sparing a glance at him while she texted.

Oliver went into the Foundry and he put the recording to be translated it showed;

** _“Guess who the hell I met; Alexis Chatzis and he broke up with Amalia!”_ **

Oliver watched the screen with so much sadness in his eyes, that sentence might not have been saying much but she spent an entire day with a guy from her past after she explained to them her traumatic past and instead of coming to talk about it with them she runs off and she feels safer to spend it with somebody else than him or the team.

In that moment he realized that he was the only one who outside of the team he had no one…while the person he thought was the one that had no one actually had many people unlike what he previously had thought.

Oliver suddenly felt so tired and he decided to fall asleep on the couch at the Foundry, he couldn’t deal with it now.

Felicity, on the other hand, talked with Karen and Tina on the phone about her encounter and later Alexis friend her on Facebook and they started talking.

She learned through him that people were asking where she disappeared off to and her aunts and uncles and even cousins weren’t saying anything.

Having such a conversation reminded her of a fight she had with Zorzet and subconsciously with Maria….

Felicity was in a state of pure high-like happiness before her grandparents’ deaths and she decided to thank her best friends in a post on Facebook and tag them, all six of them….Tina, Karen, Maria, Zorzet and Polly in the post. Seconds later in the group chat Zorzet threw a fit about how she and Maria MUST be her only best friends, not the rest, yes she was entitled to have as many good friends as she wants but only her and Maria could be her best friends. Then Zorzet downgraded Felicity from best friend to just good friend…Maria just stood there and watched the whole situation happen and then ghosted her. Then Zorzet slowly started to pull Maria to her side and Maria pulling Minas, and Minas pulling Theodora who pulled Christina to Zorzet’s side. Karen, Eva, Nicolette, Dimitris, Polly and Dimitri declared that they won’t take part in this but keep hanging out with everyone, they were Switzerland.

Karen and Polly though said to Felicity that they had her back and would be her eyes and ears when she’s not there.

Felicity was put into a very difficult position…she wanted to stop being friends with them but she was afraid of being alone again just like she was when she was living with her cousin.

Tina, not her cousin but her best friend, was by her side through it all of course.

Polly and Karen told her things that hurt her….especially after her grandparents’ and uncle’s deaths, they had all learned of their funerals but no one showed up….no one! They didn’t care about her.

So, she started to harden herself and distancing herself from them and that’s why she moved back to Las Vegas for a while and then went to MIT and changed her name to Felicity Smoak.

She felt so foolish for trusting those people…and when they hurt her she didn’t take revenge she just left, vanished.

She wished she could take revenge on them…see their faces when they realize that she wasn’t just a goody-two-shoes who is naïve and allows herself to be taken advantage of, but that she is a wise, kind-hearted woman that when crossed she can elegantly and gracefully take revenge on you and make you wish you never met her and make you wonder where did that side of her come from.

And with these thoughts Felicity let sleep take her over.

Unknowingly, the fates listened to her pleas.

In the town over Starling City, Alexis Chantzis was talking on the phone with his best friend Dimitris who was in Sydney at the time, yes the same Dimitri that was in Felicity’s High School friends group, and told him that he found Athanasia.

Dimitri was so glad that she was okay and living a great life but without thinking that Felicity might not have wanted anyone from the old group to learn where she was, he contacted Christina who contacted Theodora and Minas who contact Maria who contacted Zorzet!

Zorzet and Maria were beyond angry with her and beyond any sane judgment they, as in all of them, except Polly, booked tickets for Starling City with a layover in New York.

** _The Next Day:_ **

Felicity woke up to the sound of her alarm and from that moment she felt the tug in her gut, something will go wrong today…she couldn’t pinpoint where or what will go wrong though.

She tried to be prepared…

She didn’t realize that she had dialed Oliver’s number and it was ringing, she had called him to warn him that she was feeling that something will go wrong and that he should warn Diggs and Sara too and all of them to be vigilant…then she remembered the confession she had made and how she run away and avoided them for an entire day.

She quickly hung up and instead texted them a group message telling that she wanted them to meet her for lunch at Big Belly Burger and not to be questioned her throughout their day at QC but be prepared to ask her whatever questions they had in mind.

She then got dressed, ate breakfast and she rushed out of the door.

Every Arrow Team member received the text and all felt a relief that their favorite girl was still speaking to them.

Work at QC was normal and a little boring and none of them could wait for lunchtime to come quick enough.

The group sat with their hot meals from Big Belly Burger and Felicity smiled happily and a little nervously.

“I’m sorry guys…I shouldn’t have run out like that! I should have man up and waited for your reactions.” Felicity apologized truthfully and the group nodded then Sara walked up to her and surprisingly hugged her.

“You shouldn’t apologize, we all understand, more than others’ would.” Sara said as she hugged her friend.

“Thank you! So, now, any questions?” Felicity asked a little more comfortable and confident once Sara stopped hugging her.

“Yeah! What nationality are you?” Diggs asked while munching on a fry.

“I have triple nationality here, in Greece and in Belgium. I was born in Las Vegas but when I was ten years old and my dad was arrested by the FBI for illegal hacking, mum feared the amount of bullying I would experience in school so at ten she sent me to live with my cousin in Greece, at least that was the reason she gave to my school and every family member that asked but the cousin who would take care of me. You see my grandpa started having heart problems and my grandma had problems with her lungs. My grandparents flew to Las Vegas to receive the best medical care they and my mum could afford and soon enough they were also diagnosed and for five years they stayed in Las Vegas helping each other deal with everything. Mum wanted me far away from harsh chemicals… As a child, I had a very weak immune system because I was born prematurely and almost died. At the age of 2 up to five years old I was suffering on and off with upper respiratory infections that were always very close to pneumonia. One time I had a 104.18 Fahrenheit fever and my lungs had clogged up and I was the in-between state of awake and asleep, dad saw my state and he put his hand to my forehead…I don’t know what happened next but suddenly I’m sinking into the bathtub with icy water and salt while my mum held me, mum could handle the cold better than my dad, while dad was calling the doctor and preparing the car to drive me to the hospital. I had a small incision and a tube placed that sucked the goo stuff out of my lungs. I had for two more years an oxygen tank helping me breathe. That turned into an allergic triggering asthma attacks.” Felicity said while she was eating some French fries she knew she hadn’t only answered Diggs question she thought to explain as to why and how she ended up to have the life she had.

“So, mum thought to send me to my cousin Tina, short for Constance or Constantine, and I lived with her for five years while she was finishing up her studies in Geology. When I was fifteen mum told me she had started a process of divorce and receiving full custody of me because dad was about to get out of prison and ask me if I wanted to return to the US, I didn’t, I had learned the language and I had some sort of routine that I liked. Unfortunately, Tina’s professor hired her in his team and Tina had to leave Greece and follow him to Mongolia and then later Siberia, I couldn’t follow so I was sent to my aunt Magda and her daughter in my grandparents’ house. In a couple of weeks we were joined by my grandparents who were healthy now and had full custody of me. Mum paid child support though and stayed behind in US working and making sure I lived comfortably.” Felicity answered truthfully and then once she was done she took a huge bite out of her burger.

“Wait! Belgium? Why?” Sara asked confused.

“You see my grandparents were born and raised in Greece, they met in Athens in 1949 during their training years to become teachers after the war while rooming together with their two best friends who were also teachers in training lived in an apartment in Athens. Once they graduated in 1953 all four of them got jobs in Hague in the Netherlands teaching Greek to immigrant kids of Greeks who left after the war ended and the Greek Jews who survived and for those who left Greece during the civil war for a better future. In those three years they stayed together, the four friends who were two couples got married in a double wedding. My grandparents left Hague and went to Belgium while their friends, Eva and Kostas left for Germany where they stayed for 20 years before returning to Greece. In Belgium my mum was born along with her twin brother, my Uncle Anastasios, and then my Aunt Marilena and her twin brother, my late Uncle Aristides and lived them for five years, she was five when they moved to Stockholm while Aunt Marilena and Uncle Aristides were three years old. Then in 1970, they returned to Greece and in 1973 my Aunt Magda was born in the second biggest city of Greece, Thessaloniki.” Felicity said smiling as she took out her phone and showed them pictures.

“Wow! Your mum and her family have been all over the place, huh?” Oliver asked amazed.

“Yes, especially my grandparents. My grandpa, Thanasis, to be exact, he immigrated with his family in 1930s to Giannitsa, Pella in Greece after his entire family was chased away by the Turks during the supposedly peaceful population exchange, they used to live in a village in Eastern Thrace, now known as the European part of Turkey. My great-grandpa had fought as a sixteen-year-old in the Balkan wars along with my great grandpa’s older brother, my great grand-uncle Aristides was killed in the Russian mountains near a lake called Lena during an air raid, he was a pilot. My grandpa had four brothers and three sisters. My grandpa was the youngest of the bunch while his sisters were triplets. My grandpa and his brothers joined the army during World War II when they were 21 years old while his younger sister, Magda, became an airplane engineer. After the war, he moved to Athens and joined an academy for teachers and met grandma. Fun fact; my maternal great-grandpa met my paternal great-grandpa during WWI that he also fought, they met in Odessa and they had taken a picture together since my maternal great grandpa’s Unit was under my paternal great grandpa’s Unit control. My grandma found the picture years later when she was looking for her wedding dress to give it to my mum when my dad saw the picture and almost fainted at the shock.” Felicity said serious and as she kept explaining she was getting more and more excited.

“Wow…I don’t know what to say, we were never taught those wars.” Diggs said impressed and Felicity smiled.

“Don’t worry the average American doesn’t know half of the wars that took place in this continent let alone Europe. No offense by the way!!! Balkan Wars occurred from 1912 up to 1914 then couple of months later WWI started and then a year after it ended, lasted four years. In 1946 after WWII ended Greece sank into Civil War between people who wanted a King from the British Royal Family or Parliament and it tore families apart, it lasted in 1946 to 1949 and the main reason my grandparents fled to Hague they couldn’t deal with the stress of its aftermath, my grandma’s family had been torn in half, her sisters Helena, Eugenia, Maria and Madalena, Vivian and their husbands wanted a King while my grandma’s brothers, Achilles, Menios, Antonis, George, Michael and Andreas wanted Parliament. Great-grandpa Dimitris couldn’t bare seeing his children torn apart and he yelled one day that if they didn’t stop fighting over this matter not to contact him again. Grand-Uncle Antonis, Michael and Andreas moved to Australia after that, Andreas’ son visited us when mum was 12 years old and he told us that his father had died and he was immigrating permanently to Greece opening his own hotel. We later learned that Uncle Thomas and his dad never got along, his dad disowned him for daring to come out as gay and an atheist. Anyways, from what I learned grandpa and grandma’s life wasn’t easy, money was scarce and they worked long hours causing my mum and her siblings to look after each other for long hours. That cause my mum and her siblings to be close to one another until they became teens and their relationships got strained because of boyfriends and girlfriends.” Felicity explained with a small smile. She then took another bite of her burger.

Team Arrow stared at her with wide eyes. Felicity laughed and then fished out her phone and started searching through her photos.

“I have pictures of Giannitsa, it was such a beautiful town, especially in Fall! There was this park with big and many trees…it was a true sight…when I was sixteen though they turned it into concrete park…awfully designed.” Felicity said both in disgust and excitement as she searched through her phone and found a picture of her and her friends during the last night out before their second year in High School started. They had drunk a little too much and they were doing silly faces at the camera.

“Why are the photos shaken?” Oliver asked confused.

“Because whoever took them he or she was way too drunk by then or laughing hysterically. I took this picture and seconds after it because I was laughing I fell with my back down a small hill…nothing serious just bruised back but that sober me right up! Agh! Good times!” Felicity said laughing and then team looked at her as if she had grown another head.

“Why were you all drank?” Oliver asked a little tensed.

“Um…it was our last summer night before our second year in Senior High School started, Zorzet’s brother Simon had just broken up with a very toxic girlfriend that stole his wallet and car and the police caught her because she was speeding.” Felicity said smiling as she reminisced on the good days.

“What? You weren’t allowed to drink back then!” Oliver scolded her and she rolled her eyes.

“And you weren’t drinking at 15? Besides in this photo, all of us are 17 years old going 18 and the legal age of drinking and gambling is 18 in Greece. Besides, we weren’t caught. One time I and my friends were caught by police and when they saw we were all 18 and that I was my mum’s daughter they left me off the hook, it’s good to have an ex-boyfriend of hers in the police department, Aggelos, helped me a lot when I and my friends pissed off this girl who her older brother was in a gang and he put people from his gang to follow us…Let’s say some of them ended up in the hospital with various broken limps and knife cuts.” Felicity said smiling proudly at the gaping looks of her team.

“Fe-li-ci-ty, what does that mean?!” Oliver growled in anger and Felicity sighed.

“It was this girl, Agatha, who hated Polly because her sister, Chrissie, beat her in the Teak Won Do tournament and she wanted revenge so she attacked Polly and I while we were waiting for the bus after school. We fought her, I broke her hand and Polly blacken her eye and broke her ribs, Polly was training for Track Team for the Olympics and her sister wanted to become an Olympic Teak Won Do champion, so both girls trained very hard and Polly was doing also kickboxing along with me, Minas was doing Judo, anyways, we all knew how to fight and me being raised in a not so very good neighborhood while living with my cousin I had learned to always be ready for anything. Agatha’s brother, Thomas, learned that and he was part of a gang that Aggelos was trying to catch for years, for drug dealing in school grounds, illegal gambling and prostitution. We, of course, had no idea…okay, only Polly, I and Karen knew about it because Karen’s mum was a CI for the police working undercover in Thomas’ gang, she was running a coffee shop which was a front for an underground casino and strip-club. Anyhow, for about a month all of us realized we were being followed at night while returning from our night classes. One time they attacked my cousin Sofia and she came home with a broken hand. Then one night I was returning from a late Chemistry class and I wasn’t alone, Panos, a classmate of mine, was living a few blocks away from me so we would walk together home when we got attacked by two men. Panos was stabbed in the leg and beaten while I had a bruised eyes, broken ribs but I carried a Swiss knife, my dad had given him before he was arrested, and I stabbed one in the neck and one in the sides before Panos and I run to the police station which was near my house and we told Aggelos. The guy I stabbed in the neck died in the hospital that night while the other guy survived and told everything to the police. After that Agatha became a bitch, she blamed me for putting her brother in jail but I didn’t care. We many times fought in school, she dropped out of school months later.” Felicity explained in a low voice and everyone in the table looked at her shocked.

“What? I’m not the only child that had it that way, mine was best-case scenario, guys.” Felicity said with a shrug.

“You…what?” Sara tried to form a sentence but failed while Oliver walked away for a bit while Felicity sighed and yelled after Oliver;

“You wanted answers!”

Oliver froze at the sound of that and in seconds he was back to their table with a heated glare.

“Yeah I wanted but I never knew it could be this!”

“Oliver, shit happens to everyone.” Felicity explained in a calm almost unaffected tone.

“Alright, let’s calm down, guys.” Diggs spoke for the first time in a while.

“We’ve all been through traumatic things that normal people wouldn’t.” Diggs started saying but Felicity raised her hand and stopped him.

“No, Diggs that’s not what I’m saying, normal people, _do_ go through even worse shit. For example, Gregory, my neighbor, he was deaf and his siblings and mother were abused by his dad, when his dad would be gone their mother would take her anger frustration out on him and his sister Magdalena and his brother George. His older sister, Katerina, had left them and had moved to Athens, fleeing from the abusive household. All my life I would hear their screams, glasses shattering and the kids begging. One night Gregory limped to our apartment with a busted lip and broken leg, their dad tried to rape Magdalena and she was locked in the attic with him and Gregory tried to break the door but broke his leg. My grandpa grabbed his shotgun and went to see what’s up. The mother was just sitting in the living room yelling that her daughter was a slut, Magdalena was fourteen years old, just like my little cousin, Sofia. My grandpa, years later, told me what he saw when he broke the door…the asshole, this word is too good for him, the bastard was raping his daughter while she screaming and there was blood everywhere, Magdalena was gagged with a sock and her hands were visibly broken. Grandpa shot him in the shoulder and spine then he grabbed him and started beating him. I and grandma rushed to Magdalena and helped her to her feet. Aunt Magda was packing clothes for all three children and she was cursing their mother. Sofia had prepared beds in her room and hot water for a bath but grandpa had instated we drove to the hospital. After that Gregory and his siblings stayed with us for five more years until my grandparents died and they were legal adults. Gregory works with my Uncle Tasos in Amsterdam. What I’m trying to say is that my childhood wasn’t a cakewalk or heaven. Shit happens.” Felicity said serious and she emphasized.

Oliver, Sara and Diggs were staring at her shocked.

“I’m sorry that you had t…” Oliver started to say but Felicity raised her hand in a stop sign;

“I’m not sorry it happened, if it didn’t I wouldn’t be me.” She said with a small smile.

She looked at her fries and ate one then she sighed as she laid back.

“How is life in Greece?” Sara asked after a short silent moment.

“Oh you know living 10 years into the past than any other country…it’s okay I guess. If you grow up there or if you lived there as long as I have you learn to make peace with it and not care just adjust and make do. Then it’s the weather conditions, they are challenging at times but where I grew up I was lucky to get the chance to have a mountain view and at time sea view at the same time, it was incredible. During the Fall the colors are incredible. Where I was going to school during my Senior years in High School, our school was surrounded by farms and you could see the local mountain attraction called Paiko and we got the chance to see it getting snowed and it was beautiful. Many of our classmates were going for hikes on the weekends. I never went because I was very allergic to Pine trees and the place is full of them but once with the school, we went to a skiing saloon and it was the best school trip I ever had! I love the snow, I always have and it made me feel like a kid again.” She explained with a fond smile.

“It sounds lovely and hard at the same time.” Sara said smiling.

“Yeah, we played snowballing and it was this guy named Minas, he used to be my friend, I was making a snowman with a girl named Justine and she looks at me and mouths me to be careful next thing I know I’m being pushed face down into the snowman and then I rushed up and I tackled him we would shove snow in each other’s faces until Minas’ lips turned blue and we stopped, the only thing not wet was out panties. He came by my room once we got dressed and we sat by the fire and we ate chocolate. That was then I knew we were friends.” Felicity said smiling fondly as she remembered the memory.

She was oblivious to how Oliver looked at her. He was jealous and concerned about the amount of violence in the school and in the town but he knew how kids were. He was one in the past after all. Yet he wanted to learn more about this Minas guy.

“Who is Minas?” Oliver asked trying to sound not so interested yet he failed.

“He was my best friend but all changed just a few months before he joined the Army then we started to drift apart. I don’t know why but he said he didn’t trust me…I never have done anything to betray his trust, I was always the one defending him when others called him weird behind his back. He chose them instead of me, I’m not a cage to hold anyone’s friendship hostage, so I let him and our friend group go. Then I moved and joined MIT.” Felicity said as simply as she could keep to herself the whole wildfire, grandparents' deaths, uncle’s death, Minas’ dad’s death and the whole might-Minas-had-a-crush-on-her suspicion Karen and Tina and her mum had put into her mind throughout the years.

At that Oliver, Sara and Diggs nodded their heads understanding the concept of failing friendships yet Oliver was visibly relieved at hearing that she wasn’t speaking to that guy anymore.

“Oh…okay, so any other questions?” Felicity asked as she rubbed her hands together and then touched her cold drink.

Though everyone’s minds went through the questions they had about the wildfire and its aftermath but all of them knew how traumatic events are hard to talk about and how hard it is to be asked about them in a public place. So, they kept their mouths shut and shook their heads no.

“Okay then, let’s go to the Foundry!” Felicity whispered-yelled and everyone nodded as they left the fast-food joint since they had already paid.

In the Foundry the moment they arrived things took a turn, there was a hit at a local bank and Team Arrow got to work. She was so into her thing that she didn’t see her phone flashing with Karen’s phone number and a picture of her eating a pizza while laughing that Felicity had taken of her couple years ago at a Sundance Film Festival that Karen had submitted a movie she had worked on.

With that phone call was Karen trying to warn her best friend that her boyfriend who was a pilot had seen that people in his flight manifest from New York to Starling City had a few passengers he recognized their names as the old High School friends of his girl and warned her about it the moment he landed in Starling City.

Dylan Shane was a very good boyfriend to Karen and Felicity had done a thorough background check dive on him and later was surprised herself when Dylan cornered her and started saying how he was so privileged to meet someone like Karen and Felicity and had hugged her tight. Then a year into their relationship Felicity was invited for Christmas dinner at Dylan’s house where Karen and her met his parents, in his toast he told how when he met Karen he felt as if the piece he felt was missing was found and when Karen introduced him to Felicity that he felt he found the little sister he always wanted in Felicity. Then Felicity thanked him and reminded him that they only had two days difference when it came to birthdays and everyone laughed. Felicity liked Dylan…no scratch that she loved Dylan and she hoped he would pop the question soon.

Once the police took over the crime scene, Team Arrow returned to find Felicity talking on the phone in Greek and smiling at them for a moment before returning to her frowning expression. Then Oliver heard her say in English;

“Thanks, Dylan, so much for this! You saved my butt! Hey! I wasn’t going to swear now! Okay, okay! Now, go to sleep you just flew from London to New York to Starling City, you are beyond jet lagged! Oh! Eat something first and drink 50 ml of water before bed! Okay, alright! Bye!” Felicity said on the phone and she then hung up, sighed as she rubbed her forehead and slummed on her chair.

“Who is Dylan?” Oliver asked intrigued.

“Karen’s boyfriend, Karen is my best friend. He told me that in the flight he had he recognize couple of passengers as mine and Karen’s High School friends and he warned me that they are in town. Probably Alexis told them about me…that son of a bitch never knew to keep his mouth shut, what a malakas…ugh! **_(Malakas = asshole in greek)_**

“What does malakas mean?” Sara asked confused

“Asshole in Greek amongst other things…you can call someone malaka and mean absolutely any curse word known to the universe just depends on the tone of your voice and the previous words in the sentence… Now they are going to come here and started acting all entitled and shit! Agh! If I find Alexis I will kill him, I swear! I swear to God I will rip him to shreds!” Felicity rambled in anger as she started to type furiously on her computer.

Everyone in the Foundry froze because her tone was scary and the first time they heard it.

“I’m sure they’re not that bad.” Diggs tried to calm her down.

“Oh! You haven’t met them! Trust me they are shit! Oliver, I’m sorry to say this but Maria in comparison to your pre-island antics looks like a puppy…Maria is the most self-absorbed person I ever met and yet the most hard-working! It’s like a crossroads! Zorzet, oh she is the definition of a masochistic! The amount of times I had to talk her out of returning to ex abusive boyfriends is crazy! Minas, he’s a two-head snake and a drama magnet! Theodora is the dictionary definition of a gossip girl! Christina is a cool person but you can never be sure if she is honest or lying to you not even if the evidence is being waved up your face! In Greece we have that saying that goes by; Show me your friends to tell you who you really are, if you had met me back then and done as the saying says you would have come up with the fact that I’m a self-absorbed, racist, narrow-minded, two-faced snake….but that is not true. I never fitted in, I only hanged out with them in order not to be alone because I knew no one would want me for the real me…back when I was living with my cousin, I had no friends…for the whole five years, my only interaction was me sitting under some trees in the schoolyard looking at the clouds and trying to come up with what they looked like, or playing with the paddles or talking to the flowers there as if they were my friends…later I started to write my thoughts down…at times I even cried while I was eating my cheese sandwich. And because my cousin had to be early in class she was always dropping me off at 7:30 am while the school started at 8 am, I would wait for the janitor and the school guard of our school to open the gates then I would sit in a bench with the school guard and chit chat for a bit. Then at the end of school I would stay up to 5 pm there and I would talk to the cleaning ladies, I knew them all and their lives. Then the school guard would lock up the school and wait with me on the steps until my cousin would come. When I moved with grandma and grandpa I didn’t want to feel like that again, I forced myself to make friends and beggars can’t be choosers.” Felicity explained as she tried to keep her voice from breaking and her tears from running down her face.

She still felt as that ten-year-old child whenever she would look herself in the mirror the only difference was that her eyes weren’t full of hope anymore, they were broken.

She coughed and cleared her throat, then wiped her eyes and tried to drink some water but Sara just walked up to her and hugged her tight.

“You’re not alone anymore.” Sara told her and Felicity’s tries to stay composed were thrown off the window as Felicity hugged her back as she sobbed.

Oliver was seething with anger, who dared to make his girl…his female friend suffer like that when she was just ten years old!?

Diggs understood her, he didn’t have friends up until High School and he too joined the hug Sara was giving Felicity turning it into a group hug.

“Come on, Ollie!” Sara encouraged him and Oliver gave up and hugged them.

Felicity cried slash laughed at the whole thing and once they stop embracing she sat down and drank some water while wiping her tears away.

Thank god for waterproof mascara!

She then went to the bathroom to freshen up which let some time alone for the three heroes.

“So, what do we make of all of this?” Diggs asked with a deep sigh.

“It’s too much, Diggs. I feel bad for her yet I can’t help but want to learn more and beat people who hurt her up.” Oliver said with a deep sigh.

“I second that.” Sara agreed with Oliver as she grabbed her bo-staff and beat up a dummy.

“Good, so we are all on the same page. If we encounter her friends, we protect her from them…just no arrows, Oliver.” Diggs said as he finished cleaning his gun.

“I say we don’t protect her, she can do that herself, we just stand by her and show them how a good support system looks like.” Sara suggested as she continued beating up the dummy.

Everyone nodded but they didn’t have enough time to say anything else because Felicity walked up to them seemingly back to normal.

“I’m in dire need for a wine, who wants to come with me upstairs?” Felicity said smiling and Sara raised her hand.

“Laurel is upstairs too with Thea and Roy so I guess we can say hi.” Sara said as she grabbed a towel wiped the seat from her body in quick movements, spread a perfume she had in her duffel bag and then wore her usual leather jacket and grabbed her phone following Felicity right behind.

The boys let the girls have some time to themselves while they put away their guns and arrows.

Upstairs, Verdant, was going strong when Sara asked if she could let Laurel, Thea and Roy know about her being half Greek and her ex-friends crashing in the city. Felicity shrugged saying how either way they will learn it from somewhere might as well be the source.

In that moment a stab of anxiety made her grab her belly and then feel nausea. Sara saw that and rushed to her asking what is wrong.

“Something isn’t right…something will go wrong.” Felicity whispered in a terrifying manner which scared Sara.

“Like what?” Sara pressed as she started fanning Felicity who seemed to grow hotter by the minute.

“I…I have no idea…it’s like…like a stab here…a knot here and like the need to scream and puke all at once.” Felicity said as she tapped her belly, her neck and then her chest.

“I think you are going into an anxiety attack.” Sara said serious and grabbed Felicity and guided her to the Ladies’ room.

“What? You think?” Felicity asked worried and Sara nodded.

“Why?” Felicity asked but she couldn’t say anything else because Sara is splashing water on her face and instructing her to take deep breaths.

As Felicity opens her mouth to breath a pile of puke rises up and she pukes her guts out.

Sara is holding Felicity’s hair back as she pukes in the sink and glares at the other girls who stare at her in disgust.

“Stop staring!” Sara growled at a young teen that must have used a fake ID to get in.

Felicity stopped puking and washed herself before sliding down the wall.

“What the fuck?” She asked herself.

“Did you ever had anxiety like that?” Sara asked once she joined Felicity on the floor.

“No.”

“You should go see a doctor.” Sara said quietly.

“I don’t think I need to.”

“Yeah, you do. Don’t you think I’ve seen your eyes? You take sleeping pills to sleep without nightmares…I don’t know how long it’s been going on but I’m not sure if it’s after the Undertaking or Slade.” Sara commented quietly.

“I’ve been taking sleeping pills since I was…I think 19 years old…I couldn’t sleep at night my mind was racing so much and I couldn’t sleep.” Felicity admitted and Sara sighed.

“Were prescribed or took them under the counter?” Sara asked with a worried tone.

“Prescribed. It’s not them…I must have eaten something bad and paired with the news of them being here it resulted into this. I’m fine!” Felicity tried to reassure her friend as she jumped up to her feet then extended her hand to Sara.

“Alright, you’re not drinking wine though, you are taking a Sprite and I’ll order a special bowl with chips for you.” Sara said with a strict tone and Felicity nodded.

The two girls walked out of the bathroom holding hands and they searched for Laurel who was sitting at a table in the VIP section drinking water with lemon from a straw and Roy eating a burger.

“Hey! Where’s Thea?” Sara asked as they sat down.

“Syd came and Thea saw how she was dressed and declared a fashion emergency…so I guess the Next Top Model Dungeon.” Roy said with a shrug and Felicity and Laurel laughed at that.

Conversation flowed naturally and Felicity forgot her troubles until she stood up to go order another Sprite and lemon-water that she pumped into someone and their scent made her stop in her tracks.

“Excuse me!” She said quickly as she hurried away from the person who stared at her shocked.

She gave her order quickly and tensed she starred around her trying to find him or them in the crowd but no luck.

She walked back to her table and Sara saw her tense posture and knew.

“Are they here?” She yelled over the music and Felicity just nodded.

“Who’s here?” Laurel asked confused.

“Some shitty old friends from Felicity’s school days. They look for trouble.” Sara explained shortly.

“No, Sara, tell her…tell them the full story.” Felicity said serious once she saw Thea and Syd come up to them with drinks in hand. Syd look weirdly okay and not angry.

“See, Syd, that top and jacket look amazing on you and those shoes are wearable not so many holes in them.” Thea said obliviously as Roy gave thumbs up to Syd’s forced by Thea twirl.

Thea then read the whole atmosphere and frowned.

“What is going on?” Thea asked worried and then Sara started explaining minus the wildfire thing.

A half an hour later, Roy, Laurel, Syd and Thea were equally pissed as Sara, Diggs and Oliver. They kept an eye out for the people matching the photos Felicity showed them but got nothing.

Felicity started to doubt her senses if the man she pumped into was somebody else but her anxiety made her see things.

Oliver and Diggs with Lyla joined them after a little while and they had a great time.

Oliver walked Felicity to her apartment and then he went home himself.

It was the first night that Felicity prayed after so long, she thanked God for the solid and trustworthy group of friends she had and begged Him not to take them away from her just like the previous one.

It was the first night Felicity slept with no sleeping pills or nightmares.

Everyone slept well including Sara and Oliver.

If they only knew this was the calm before the storm…

Picture of what I think would be cool covers for this story:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? What do you think will happen in the next chapter? Will Felicity confront her old group of friends? How would Team Arrow and Co will react to them? Will the old groupd of friends realize that Felicity isn't their good ol' Athanasia? If yes, how would it be caused?
> 
> Give me your theories in the comments, I look forward to reading them! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Have a nice day/night!
> 
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Youtube: Vasiliki Tzalachani  
Reddit: Fanfictionmusiclover

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story!
> 
> The friendships were heavily inspired by my friends. I always wanted to make Felicity being Greek because I wanted to use what I know about Greek traditions and play with the shock and reactions of other characters since before we learned about Felicity's past and no one cared about where she came from.
> 
> And I like a lot about playing with Felicity Origin stories.
> 
> Also, the wildfire refer to the story is a real event that happened last year, only not in the places I said. Of course, the places I said there are close together aren't in real life I just made them fictionally be close together for the purpose of the story. It was indeed a wildfire that traumatized the entire country.
> 
> Tell me in your comments what do you think of it? What will the conversation between Oliver, Sara and John be with Felicity?
> 
> Follow me:
> 
> Instagram: Vicky Tzalachani
> 
> Twitter: TVDvicky
> 
> Tumblr: Fandom-Girl99
> 
> Blog: Daydreamer's Mind
> 
> Fanfiction.net: Vicky Tzalachani
> 
> Wattpad: Vicky1599 or Vicky20
> 
> Pinterest: Vasiliki Tzalachani
> 
> Quora: Vasiliki Talachani
> 
> Gravatar: Daydreamer
> 
> Spotify: Vasiliki Tzalachani or Vicky1699
> 
> Youtube: Vasiliki Tzalachani
> 
> Reddit: Fanfictionmusiclover


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